I just have a problem with the surety: Barriers to pretrial release in Canada

• In Event: 2132 - Topics in Criminology

Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 120 pretrial detainees, this paper examines barriers to bail release for accused people in Ontario, Canada. To obtain bail release, interviewees were uniformly required to produce a surety, a person who is a relational equivalent to a bail bondsmen that will act as a community supervisor. Yet, only half the interviewees could produce a surety who was willing to act in this quasi-policing role. In this paper, I highlight the practical and normative constraints of the surety requirement and consider how this system contravenes the legislative intention of bail and the logics of punishment before conviction.

Author

• Holly Pelvin, University of Alberta